Dodging Deer in Zion National Park

Zion National Park Travel Blog

The last park we will visit in Utah is Zion National Park. However, first we have to get there. The closer we got to the park, the more deer were making death defying jumps across the road. The last part of our nightly road trip was at a snail's pace because of all the deer that were kind of escorting us to the park. We decided to stay in the Driftwood Lodge. This quaint little motel was run by a woman that still lived in the 70s. I mean, it looked like this woman was baked like a shrimp while talking to her. Anyway, she was really nice and friendly and there was no bible in our nightstand - my kinda place!We decide to stay here two days. The first day we did a couple of hikes across the park. Zion National Park is like a little paradise on Earth. The Canyon the park mostly consists of is fairly narrow which confronts the visitor with all kinds of wildlife. I went from a city slicker from Holland who never saw a deer in the wild to actually being bored by being only 5 metres (15 feet) away from these furry (tasty) friends.

In the park we met a couple from California that just emerged from the Zion river dressed in dry suits. They ensured us that we HAVE to do that to. When I told the girl that we were staying there for one more night, she told her boyfriend (or whatever) "oh my god, they are staying here for another day, they can do it too!". That was settled then, the next day we drove up to "Zion Adventures" and went through the works. While we were trying on our equipment, the scrawny bearded store clerk was talking about the unified field theorem (a theory on how you can unite all the different existing theories about physics). Quite a character, you might say. Although he was surprisingly knowledgeable about physics (and he seemed kind of surprised by my knowledge as well), he was really into rock climbing. In fact, he didn't really care about anything else. That's probably why he worked in a shop like this, he just needed a bit of money and lots of free time to exercise his life passion - climbing them rocks! Quite inspirational, nothing wrong with following your life's passion!

Anyway, I am lingering of subject, you want to know about my experiences and not about goofy crazy people we meet. Wading through a river in sub zero conditions sounds kind of cold, and as a matter of fact, it is. The wet suit kept, a part from the water, also most of the cold out, but if you stopped moving, you got chilly quite quickly. So we kept moving to keep warm! It is pretty weird if you imagine how long it took this river to cut through this solid rock. I reckon that at the time this river started knibling at this mountain, the dinosaurs didn't even roam the Earth. It makes you feel so tiny and insignificant as a human being. To this river, we truly do not matter. Our life-span is just a mere eye-blink for this wee little river. This river has seen it all and will outlife us all. And although this river probably doesn't care much about esthetics. It certainly carved out an eye pleasing canyon!

Back at the motel, there were a couple of police officers roaming the property. Apparently, according to our hippy, some crazy guy slit his wrists after an argument with his significant other. These lone remote villages can make you crazy - they say!Our black haired hippy told we could rest easy tonight - and so we did!